Apr 27 2009
Tips to help you Eat Less and Lose Weight
Portion control? What do you mean portion control? Nutrient dense foods? What are those? Eat less, exercise more? But I’m hungry and exercise is no fun. Vegetables? You want me to eat vegetables? It’s all too confusing. What can I do?
The first thing you can do is decide you want to make life-long changes. You’re not going to give up the donuts, twinkies and soda overnight. Some people can, some people have the willpower to change their diet in an instant, fight the cravings for a few weeks and be done with it. But the truth is, most of us aren’t like that. We have to decide we want to make changes in our diet and lifestyle and take the gradual approach.
The following are tips to help you make those changes in a way that you won’t feel deprived or starved to death.
Eat foods that are filling and slow to digest. Foods that contain sugars and processed white flour will digest so fast that you’ll feel hungry again within an hour. Eat less sweets, breads, pasta’s, rice and potatoes. These foods are high-carb, and relatively give you empty calories, meaning they have very little nutritional value. Fill up on salad and vegetables first. Eat lots of lean proteins like eggs, beef, cheeses, seafood. These will help you feel full longer than if you fill up on high carbohydrate foods.
Soup, vegetables and fruits are considered high-volume foods. It means they are relatively high in weight and volume but have small calorie counts. They also contain more vitamins than the junk and processed foods.
If you must eat carbohydrates, eat ones that are slower to digest like legumes, whole grains and vegetables. Avoid fattening foods as much as possible. These are foods that are high in fat and calories, small in portion size and have little nutritional value. Yes, this is where the donuts and twinkies come in. Most likely you can’t cut those foods out completely in the beginning, but you can cut way back on them. Try eating half a donut after a meal. Eat it slowly and enjoy it so you don’t feel deprived. Many times you’ll feel satisfied and not even want the second half.
Drink lots of water. I know, you hate the stuff. Most people do, but it’s good for you. The body can survive long periods without food, but not water. Your body is made up of over half water content, not soda, tea, coffee or beer. Water. Your muscles need water to function, your blood is mostly water, your brain has to have it. In the beginning you’ll need to gradually increase your water intake. You obviously can’t start out with the 8 recommended glasses of water each day. You’ll feel bloated and water-logged. Start with one glass a day the first week, 2 glasses the second week, and continue that pattern until you reach the 8 glasses a day. By then, you’ll probably even want more water. You will begin to feel better because water will help regulate a number of bodily functions and help flush all those toxins out of your system. Water is your friend. Having a glass of water before a meal will help you eat less too.
Eat breakfast. I know it’s the most skipped meal in the world. But if people did things a better way they’d eat a big breakfast and skip dinner. When you eat in the morning it signals your body that you’re not going to starve it. It prepares the body to reach and sustain a level of metabolism. The human body was designed to be the most perfect fat burning machine there is. Unfortunately we’ve turned it upside down and prevented it from doing its job properly. When you skip breakfast the body thinks it’s going into starvation mode so it begins to store calories and slows metabolism down. If you start to eat breakfast daily the body will readjust itself and begin to work more properly. This won’t happen overnight but it will happen.
Enjoy your favorite things in moderation or find a healthier alternative. Life long changes should be gradual so you’ll actually stick with them. But first you have to lose the mentality that it’s going to happen fast, it won’t. You didn’t get in this shape fast, you won’t get out of it fast. Learn about portion control and portion sizes, they are quite smaller than you think. If you’re eating the right foods though you will feel just as satisfied.
The size of the human stomach is about the size of your fist. It does expand to accommodate food and liquid. The problem comes when you consistently overeat, it will stretch and cause you to need more food to feel full. The good news is, if you consistently eat smaller meals the stomach will shrink back to it’s normal size and it will take less food to make you feel full. Again, this doesn’t happen overnight but it will happen. A good way to help your stomach in this process is to eat more meals a day but make them smaller. Five or six small meals a day is much better for you than 3 large ones. It also helps your body maintain it’s level of metabolism all day.
All the information you read sometimes sounds really complicated, but it’s actually very simple. Eat more foods that are good for you, like lean meats, cheeses, vegetables and nuts. Eat less fried foods, high carbohydrate foods, starchy foods, and low nutrient dense foods. Drink lots of water. Do not smother your food in sauces, gravies or margarine. If you must have those things, use them in moderation and choose real butter over margarine. It’s more expensive but not only does it have more taste than margarine, you can pronounce all two ingredients. Make healthier choices and use ingredients that you can pronounce. Cream of mushroom soup makes an excellent gravy for beef. It’s relatively low in calories, fat, cholesterol and carbs. Reading your labels and making these kinds of choices will go a long way in your overall health and dieting plan.
